Paul Ryan: Short-Term Highway Funding Fix Likely

Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, said Thursday that there isn’t enough time for a long-term highway funding bill to pass Congress before the August recess, and that a shorter fix through the end of the year is likely.

Congress has already passed one short-term highway fix this year — a funding “patch” ends on July 31 — and there have been more than 20 similar fixes over the past decade. Both parties have expressed interest in a six-year bill funding the nation’s highways, but Ryan said the limited time left before the deadline isn’t adequate to make that happen.

“We will have to do an extension through the year this month because it is impossible to put in place a six-year financing package for highways in the next two weeks, and we’re trying to impress this point upon our colleagues,” Ryan said at a breakfast hosted by Politico. “We want a six-year highway bill, we want a long-term highway bill, we want to give states the ability to plan ahead, but that means we have to come up with a way to do long-term financing.” Read on…

Let’s Go Colorado

Colorado's transportation needs have gone unmet for decades. In every corner of our state, we lack the resources to maintain our roads, highways and local bus routes.

Because the state’s gas tax isn’t tied to inflation, there has been less and less revenue from existing gas taxes to address Colorado’s transportation needs. Today, Colorado spends just $69 per driver on transportation infrastructure, compared to 25 years ago when we spent almost twice that amount - $125 per driver.

CDOT has more than $9 billion in projects with no funding - and that’s only part of the issue, our local communities lack the resources to address congestion, maintain roads and improve safety. We need a statewide solution that ensures local governments have the resources to meet demands, addresses high-priority projects on state highways, and promotes multimodal transportation options that reduce congestion.

It's time to stop the band-aid approach.

In the next 10 years, 78% of Colorado roads will need to be repaired, but the state lacks the budget to keep up.

Colorado Department of Transportation

24-7, CDOT is committed to your safety and the quality of your travel on more than 23,000 lane miles throughout the state. We know that transportation impacts you on a daily basis, which is why we're always working to improve the way you move.

Click here for a map of all the projects we are planning and to see details of the projects included in your region.

Explore some of our areas of focus and what we are doing to address them.

CDOT regularly receives ideas for transportation improvements from the public. Everything from widening highways, building bike and pedestrian friendly roads, creating more transit options and constructing that long wished for light rail to the mountains. We would love to do all of these projects and more, but we’re up against a steep funding crisis.